Christ’s Antediluvian Cross

Dedicated to my special friends

Marc and Elisabeth Fury

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April, 2016

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 Contents

The Cross is the Key .......................................................................................... 4

Did Noah Run a Global Extortion Racket?......................................................... 4

Filled with Violence ........................................................................................... 6

The Path to Corruption/Destruction ................................................................. 9

Death is Caused by Sin, Not by God ............................................................... 17

Christ the Perfect Expression of the Father .................................................... 18

The Great Lie That Caused Fear of Death ....................................................... 21

Christ Has Abolished Death............................................................................. 23

A Revelation of the Father’s Love ................................................................... 27

Calvary Revealed Through the Flood. ............................................................. 29

We Esteemed His Stricken, Smitten of God .................................................... 34

Seeking the Father With All Our Hearts .......................................................... 35

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The Cross is the Key
The story of the worldwide flood is troubling to many. Would God truly
drown hundreds of thousands of people because His mercy is exhausted and
the crushing hand of judgment will no longer be restrained? Would a loving
God do such a thing? For many this is a perplexing mystery. Note carefully
the following words for they hold the key to understanding this mystery:

The mystery of the cross explains all other mysteries. In the light that
streams from Calvary the attributes of God which had filled us with fear
and awe appear beautiful and attractive. Mercy, tenderness, and parental
love are seen to blend with holiness, justice, and power. While we
behold the majesty of His throne, high and lifted up, we see His
character in its gracious manifestations, and comprehend, as never
before, the significance of that endearing title, "Our Father." GC 652.1

Did Noah Run a Global Extortion Racket?

A man politely walks into the grocery store and informs the owner that a very
real threat exists towards his business. “There is coming certain destruction
upon your business and your family,” he says. “Nothing can stop this
destruction except that you come under our protection,” he continues. “We
have provided an Ark of Safety for those who acknowledge us as the only
true protectors of freedom.” The man informs him that he has come on a
mission of mercy to save the shop owner from certain destruction. By turning
to the help of this man and providing him support, the shop owner will be
spared this coming destruction that will fall upon all the shop owners who
refuse to accept this protection. The man gently puts his hand on the
shoulder of the shop owner and pleads with him to give careful consideration
to this offer of “mercy.” “We would not want any harm to come to you or
your family. We would be very sad about it.” So the man urges him to accept
the merciful terms of protection.

If the man is offering protection from another threat separate from himself
then he would be engaged in the criminal offense called a protection racket.
If the threat of destruction would actually be carried out by the same group
this man represented then this would be the criminal offense called an

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extortion racket. It is the coercive practice of manipulating a person’s will
through intimidation or threats with some type of pressure being applied.

Is it possible for the one applying the pressure, and who represents the party
who will carry out the threat of destruction to be the same person who could
give a genuine message of mercy?

Is the story of the flood in the Bible actually a worldwide extortion racket?
Does the God of the Bible provide protection to those who do what He wants
and then kills all those who refuse to support Him?

Gen 6:13-14 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come
before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and,
behold, I will destroy [H7843]them with the earth. (14) Make thee an
ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it
within and without with pitch.

The Bible says that the earth was full of violence. Does it make any sense to
violently destroy people using the reason that they are violent? Would this
not be considered hypocritical?

If we look at the word destroy in Hebrew it means:

H7843: A primitive root; to decay, that is, (causatively) ruin (literally or

figuratively): - batter, cast off, corrupt (-er, thing), destroy (-er, -uction),
lose, mar, perish, spill, spoiler, X utterly, waste (-r).

This same word is used in the verses just prior to verse thirteen:

Gen 6:11-12 The earth also was corrupt [H7843] before God, and the
earth was filled with violence. (12) And God looked upon the earth,
and, behold, it was corrupt; [H7843] for all flesh had corrupted [H7843]
his way upon the earth.

If we apply the English word destroy, which is what the translators used for
the same Hebrew word in Gen 6:13, it reads as follows:

Gen 6:11-12 The earth also was destroyed before God, and the earth
was filled with violence. (12) And God looked upon the earth, and,
behold, it was destroyed; for all flesh had destroyed his way upon the
earth.

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The reason that the earth was considered destroyed was because man had
corrupted or destroyed his way of thinking; he had become full of violence.

Filled with Violence

At this time the world was fully manifesting the mind of Satan. The Scriptures
tell us the source of this violence:

Eze 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the
midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned:

This is in complete contrast to Christ who, the Scripture says, does no

violence:

Isa 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in
his mouth.

In speaking of the King’s Son, the psalmist declared:

Psa 72:14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and
precious shall their blood be in his sight.

So the Son of God does no violence and those He redeems, He saves from
engaging in violence and from being treated violently. Satan is filled with
violence and he filled the world with this spirit. What is the main point at
issue that causes Satan to have a spirit of violence?

The angels joyfully acknowledged the supremacy of Christ, and

prostrating themselves before Him, poured out their love and adoration.
Lucifer bowed with them, but in his heart there was [37] a strange,
fierce conflict. Truth, justice, and loyalty were struggling against envy
and jealousy. PP 36,37

"Why," questioned this mighty angel, "should Christ have the

supremacy? Why is He honored above Lucifer?"

Leaving his place in the immediate presence of the Father, Lucifer

went forth to diffuse the spirit of discontent among the angels. He
worked with mysterious secrecy, and for a time concealed his real
purpose under an appearance of reverence for God. He began to

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 insinuate doubts concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings,
intimating that though laws might be necessary for the inhabitants of the
worlds, angels, being more exalted, needed no such restraint, for their
own wisdom was a sufficient guide. They were not beings that could
bring dishonor to God; all their thoughts were holy; it was no more
possible for them than for God Himself to err. The exaltation of the Son
of God as equal with the Father was represented as an injustice to
Lucifer, who, it was claimed, was also entitled to reverence and honor.
PP 37

The hatred of Satan became so great towards Christ that he planned to kill
the Son of God from the very beginning. The crucifixion of Christ revealed to
the Universe the true intentions of Satan before the creation of this world.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye
will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the
truth…

Satan’s murderous design is what fuelled his spirit of violence. This world was
created in the image of God and His Son and when Satan beheld the innocent
pair in the garden, he was filled with envy and determined to destroy them.

No longer free to stir up rebellion in heaven, Satan's enmity against

God found a new field in plotting the ruin of the human race. In the
happiness and peace of the holy pair in Eden he beheld a vision of the
bliss that to him was forever lost. Moved by envy, he determined to
incite them to disobedience, and bring upon them the guilt and penalty
of sin. He would change their love to distrust and their songs of
praise to reproaches against their Maker. Thus he would not only
plunge these innocent beings into the same misery which he was himself
enduring, but would cast dishonor upon God, and cause grief in heaven.
PP 52.1

When Adam and Eve sinned, they invited this spirit of hatred and envy into
their hearts. They became united with Satan against God.

There exists naturally no enmity between sinful man and the originator
of sin. Both became evil through apostasy. The apostate is never at rest,
except as he obtains sympathy and support by inducing others to follow
his example. For this reason fallen angels and wicked men unite in

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 desperate companionship. Had not God specially interposed, Satan
and man would have entered into an alliance against Heaven; and
instead of cherishing enmity against Satan, the whole human family
would have been united in opposition to God. GC 505.2

This is the spirit that filled almost the entire human race. It is a spirit of
hatred towards the Son of God. The source of this hatred is not easily
perceived and understood, but the natural human heart will instinctively act
with resistance leading to violence against the Spirit of Christ.

The only way for man to continue to live was for Christ to continue to supply
the power of His life to the human race. This is why Christ is the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. (Rev 13:8). Christ has been wounded for
our transgressions from the foundation of the world. He has been bruised for
our iniquities from the beginning. Yet in order for man to live, Christ had to
continue to carry each person despite this hatred inspired by Satan.

Isa 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his
presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and
he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

The natural enmity of man for the Spirit of Christ would cause him to
suppress the promptings of the Spirit and react with hatred and violence
towards those around him. The expression of violence in this world is the
expression of the original hatred and feelings of hatred that Satan had for
Christ.

Matt 25:40 Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

This point is critical to understand. All violence is inspired by a spirit that is

fuelled by envy and hatred for the Son of God. Therefore all violence is a
partaking of this hatred towards Christ even if the original reason is
completely unknown. Expressions of hatred towards our neighbour and acts
of violence towards our enemies are fuelled by Satan’s hatred towards Christ.
This is the origin of all violence and hatred.

All of the violence described in Genesis six is a manifestation of Satan’s

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hatred for Christ through men and women. As Christ is the only source of life
we have the final result of all such hatred can only be self-destruction.

The Path to Corruption/Destruction

The apostle Paul gives us a description of this destruction process in Romans:

Rom 1:21-25 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him
not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (22) Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools, (23) And changed the glory
of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,
and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (24)
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of
their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
(25) Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and
served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.
Amen. (26) For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for
even their women did change the natural use into that which is against
nature: (27) And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working
that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that
recompence of their error which was meet. (28) And even as they
did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate [worthless, castaway] mind, to do those things which are
not convenient;

The process of corruption begins with refusing to glorify the true God of
heaven and remaining darkened in the mind by introducing false worship.
Corruption grows through allowing the natural hatred for Christ within to
grow and manifest like cancer. For the first inhabitants of this world this
began a series of steps whereby God gave them up or over to the things that
they desired to do. He let them corrupt their own minds because they wished
to hold onto their hatred towards the Son of God. He let them enter into vile
affections because they wished to rebel against the order that Christ had
created. God then gave them up completely to a worthless mind. This is a
mind that no longer cares for life. It is a mind that thinks nothing of death
and destruction. Sexual perversion, killing and devastation become normal

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for the reprobate or worthless mind. Yet in this process Christ is rejected,
despised and tortured in His Spirit. The violence of the world towards each
other was simply an expression of their hatred and violence towards the Son
of God.

So we see that the world had already destroyed itself through a process of
allowing the spirit of Satan to fully rule them and manifest his hatred and
envy towards Christ. The only thing left was for this worthless mind to
manifest itself completely in the earth through a rejection of its Creator. The
invisible seed planted in the hearts of men would certainly bear its fruit in the
visible world. In the fullness of antediluvian time God sent forth His Son that
He might be born of this antediluvian woman who was the seed carrier from
Eden. Under the hateful influence of Satan, the world had aborted Christ and
so the world would have to miscarry his corpse into the toilet bowl of human
misery. The words of Peter find clarity in the light of the antediluvian cross.

1 Pet 3:18-20 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit: (19) By which also he went and preached unto
the spirits in prison; (20) Which sometime were disobedient, when
once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the
ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by
water.

As inanimate nature bore witness to the death of Christ 2000 years ago, it
also bore witness to the antediluvian crucifixion. When the waters of that
apostate woman broke, it was manifested in their own destruction of the
still-born experience of the Seed which they had drowned out in their
immoral violent behaviour.

It is in this context that the story of Noah can be understood as a message of

mercy.

Men cannot with impunity reject the warning which God in mercy
sends them. A message was sent from heaven to the world in Noah's
day, and their salvation depended upon the manner in which they treated
that message. GC 431

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The only possible way that God’s message to the world through Noah could
be considered merciful was for the inevitable destruction to be a result of
what they had done to Christ. This whole creation is held together in Him.

Col 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
NKJV

John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing
was made that was made. NKJV

As the leaves began to fall from the trees in Eden as a testimony to the
sufferings of Christ when Adam sinned, so in the flood creation would groan
and travail in antediluvian rejection and violence.

If God was the one who violently destroyed the antediluvians then He would
be displaying the very spirit of Satan. The message of Noah was not a gospel
of coercion and therefore was not an extortion racket.

Jesus told us:

Matt 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be.

Please notice the causes listed for the flood in these inspired words:

Because they rejected the warning, the Spirit of God was withdrawn
from the sinful race, and they perished in the waters of the Flood. GC
431

Filled with the keenest remorse for his own sin, and doubly bereaved in
the death of Abel and the rejection of Cain, Adam was bowed down
with anguish. He witnessed the wide-spreading corruption that was
finally to cause the destruction of the world by a flood… PP 82

It was the wide-spreading corruption or destruction caused by man’s hatred and

violence towards Christ that caused the destruction of the world by a flood that
reacted in violence and destruction towards them.

Matt 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with
what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Psa_7:15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which
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 he made.

Satan had led the human race into rebellion against its Creator. His temptations
caused them to crucify Christ afresh in their daily self-indulgence. This is what
caused the withdrawal of the Spirit of God from the earth and led to the flood.
Listen carefully to the following quote. Follow the logic sequence carefully.

Satan is the [389] destroyer. God cannot bless those who refuse to be
faithful stewards. All He can do is to permit Satan to accomplish his
destroying work. We see calamities of every kind and in every degree
coming upon the earth, and why? The Lord's restraining power is not
exercised. The world has disregarded the word of God. They live as
though there were no God. Like the inhabitants of the Noachic
world, they refuse to have any thought of God. Wickedness prevails
to an alarming extent, and the earth is ripe for the harvest. 6T 388,389

1. Ellen White tells us who the destroyer is:

Satan is the destroyer. 6T 388.

2. We are then told how the destroyer is allowed to do his work:

God cannot bless those who refuse to be faithful stewards. All He can
do is to permit Satan to accomplish his destroying work. 6T 389

3. We are then told about the calamities that occur everywhere today and
why they come. The same process that is mentioned in Romans chapter one
is mentioned here. God is forgotten.

We see calamities of every kind and in every degree coming upon the
earth, and why? The Lord's restraining power is not exercised. The
world has disregarded the word of God. They live as though there were
no God. 6T 389

4. The example given of how this process works is the story of Noah’s flood

Like the inhabitants of the Noachic world, they refuse to have any
thought of God. Wickedness prevails to an alarming extent, and the
earth is ripe for the harvest. 6T389

Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. His methods of dealing

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with men do not change. This same process is given again in Great
Controversy. A number of Bible examples are given to explain the process.

Men cannot with impunity reject the warning which God in mercy
sends them. A message was sent from heaven to the world in Noah's
day, and their salvation depended upon the manner in which they treated
that message. Because they rejected the warning, the Spirit of God was
withdrawn from the sinful race, and they perished in the waters of
the Flood. In the time of Abraham, mercy ceased to plead with the
guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot with his wife and two
daughters were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven. So in the
days of Christ. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of
that generation: "Your house is left unto you desolate." Matthew
23:38. Looking down to the last days, the same Infinite Power declares,
concerning those who "received not the love of the truth, that they might
be saved": "For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thessalonians
2:10-12. As they reject the teachings of His word, God withdraws
His Spirit and leaves them to the deceptions which they love. GC
431

Here is the process given again:

1. God sends a merciful warning message (not a message of coercion.)

2. When the message is rejected completely, the Spirit of God withdraws.
3. Man is left to his own desolation.
4. Man receives the consequences of his own choices.

The examples given that follow this process are:

1. The destruction by the flood during Noah’s time.

2. The destruction of Sodom.
3. Israel’s rejection of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem.
4. The destruction of the last days.

All of these examples follow the same process. That is why they are listed
in the quote. Concerning the destruction of Jerusalem we are given an even
clearer sequence.

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 In the siege and the slaughter that followed, more than a million of the
people perished; the survivors were carried away as captives, sold as
slaves, dragged to Rome to grace the conqueror's triumph, thrown to
wild beasts in the amphitheatres, or scattered as homeless wanderers
throughout the earth.

The Jews had forged their own fetters; they had filled for themselves
the cup of vengeance. In the utter destruction that befell them as a
nation, and in all the woes that followed them in their dispersion,
they were but reaping the harvest which their own hands had
sown. Says the prophet: "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;" "for
thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." Hosea 13:9; 14:1. Their sufferings
are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the
direct decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver seeks to
conceal his own work. By stubborn rejection of divine love and
mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn
from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according to his will.
The horrible cruelties enacted in the [36] destruction of Jerusalem are a
demonstration of Satan's vindictive power over those who yield to his
control. GC 35.3

The destruction of Jerusalem is a demonstration of Satan’s vindictive

power. This example was listed alongside the worldwide flood, the fire in
Sodom and the last days.

Ellen White was clearly shown how this process works:

I was shown that the judgments of God would not come directly
out from the Lord upon them, but in this way: They place
themselves beyond His protection. He warns, corrects, reproves, and
points out the only path of safety; then if those who have been the
objects of His special care will follow their own course
independent of the Spirit of God, after repeated warnings, if they
choose their own way, then He does not commission His angels to
prevent Satan's decided attacks upon them. 14MR 3

We note again how Satan works:

Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon

them by the direct decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver
seeks to conceal his own work. GC 35

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It is true that Satan experiments with nature, and when allowed he will use
it in his work of destruction.

Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of

unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of
nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God
allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and
herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble
succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields His creatures
and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. GC 589

The Spirit of Prophecy makes it clear that those who believe that God
destroyed the antediluvians are aligned with the spirit of Cain.

The dwellers on the plain of Shinar disbelieved God’s covenant that He

would not again bring a flood upon the earth. Many of them denied the
existence of God and attributed the Flood to the operation of natural
causes. Others believed in a Supreme Being, and that it was He who
had destroyed the antediluvian world; and their hearts, like that of
Cain, rose up in rebellion against Him. PP 119

So we see that it is Satan who uses the power of nature to destroy, but the
story of the flood is more complex because Satan was not in control of the
elements during this time.

Above the roar of the tempest was heard the wailing of a people that
had despised the authority of God. Satan himself, who was
compelled to remain in the midst of the warring elements, feared
for his own existence. PP 99.

The Spirit of Prophecy does use this term warring elements in parallel with
the work of evil angels:

When you have placed yourselves in the right relation to God, then, if
you are compelled to go among the warring elements, Christ will
give you his spirit, and will work with your efforts. When brought in
contact with the powers of darkness, angels of God will be right by
your side, and will preserve you from the wrath of men. RH June 29,
1886

Of interest at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem is that the Roman

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leader Titus wanted to preserve the temple in Jerusalem. Yet his army was
overrun with a spirit of chaos and disorder, and Titus lost control of the
situation.

Titus rushed to the place, followed by his generals and legionaries, and
commanded the soldiers to quench the flames. His words were
unheeded. In their fury the soldiers hurled blazing brands into the
chambers adjoining the temple, and then with their swords they
slaughtered in great numbers those who had found shelter there. GC 33

Did Satan lose control of his army? Did the rebellious spirit of Satan
contained within all his legions manifest completely in a display of chaos
and disorder? In the same manner did creation that Satan tried to control
also rebel against order and reflect his own image?

The difference between the destruction of Jerusalem and destruction of the

flood is found in the difference between the unrestrained Roman army and
the unrestrained natural elements and possibly unrestrained evil angels. It
is easy to see that Roman soldiers under the control of Satan destroyed
Jerusalem. It is not so clear to see the violent principles of Satan being
allowed to manifest themselves in nature or possibly in his own followers.
In this case Satan did not have control of nature but rather nature was
allowed to reflect his image as opposed to the image of Christ. Christ does
all things decently and in order whereas Satan has a chaotic and violent
nature. Satan is possessed with a warring spirit and this spirit was allowed
to manifest itself in the elements. We see this same principle occurring at
the Second Coming of Christ.

And now there rises a cry of mortal agony. Louder than the shout,
"Crucify Him, crucify Him," which rang through the streets of
Jerusalem, swells the awful, [644] despairing wail, "He is the Son of
God! He is the true Messiah!" They seek to flee from the presence of
the King of kings. In the deep caverns of the earth, rent asunder by
the warring of the elements, they vainly attempt to hide. GC 643.4

It is easy for us to say that a person who acts violently and chaotically is
under the influence of Satan, but when nature itself is allowed to reflect
this mind, we are tempted to attribute this to God. Yet our Father is not a
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chaotic, disordered being. When nature becomes disordered, it is because it
has been allowed to reflect the mind and spirit of chaos due to the fact that
its Creator has been finally and completely evicted. Man was given
dominion over the earth.

Psa 8:4-6 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son
of man, that thou visitest him? (5) For thou hast made him a little
lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
(6) Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy
hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

When Christ is finally and completely rejected, the dominion that was given
to man is given over to reflect the mind of the one chosen by its
inhabitants. When a father gives a car to his son, and his son keeps
company with reckless and chaotic friends, is the father accused of killing
his son when the car is involved in a reckless accident?

Death is Caused by Sin, Not by God

It has been this way from the beginning. God told Adam in the garden:

Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

We are told clearly what caused this death:

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;

Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil meant that Adam would
now decide for himself what was good and what was evil. He presumed to
know better than God what was best for his welfare. This mind follows a
clearly defined process:

James 1:14-15 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his
own lust, and enticed. (15) Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth
forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Temptation leads to lust which leads to sin which leads to death. God is not
the author of sin, and therefore, He cannot pay its wages to people. If God
pays the wages of sin then He can be accused of running an extortion

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racket. It is like saying “If you don’t worship me then I will kill you and your
family.”

What is sin then?

Rom 14:23 …for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin
is the transgression of the law.

What is the law?

Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and
just, and good.

What is God?

1. Holy: “Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.” Lev 19:2
2. Just: “a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deut 32:4
3. Good: “Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.”
Luke 18:19

If God and His law are holy, just, and good, then what is the law in relation to
God?

God's law is the transcript of His character. It embodies the

principles of His kingdom. COL 306

God requires perfection of His children. His law is a transcript of His

own character, and it is the standard of all character. COL 315

Do you love to keep the commandments of God, because the

commandments of God are God's precepts, the transcript of His
character, and can no more be altered than can the character of
God? FLB 130.

Christ the Perfect Expression of the Father

Who is the One who has perfectly demonstrated the law which is a transcript
of the character of God?

The life of Christ on earth was a perfect expression of God's law… COL

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 315

What did Christ say of Himself?

John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and
yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

What does the law tell us?

Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not kill. [H7523 – dash to pieces]

Did Christ perfectly reflect the law of His Father?

Luke 9:56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to
save them.

Matt 26:52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his
place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Luke 6:27-28 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do
good to them which hate you, (28) Bless them that curse you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you.

Mat 5:39-40 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. (40) And
if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have
thy cloke also.

Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they do.

If Christ is a perfect reflection of His Father, and Christ’s ministry on earth

was also a perfect expression of the law, and the law is a transcript of God’s
character, then it is inescapable that when God says “Do not kill,” it is
because He does not kill. Otherwise God must be considered like the
Pharisees:

Matt 23:2-3 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
(3) All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and
do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

Does God say and do not? Does sweet and bitter water come from the same

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fountain? Does He tell us not to kill and then turn around and wipe out
billions of people thus becoming the greatest slaughterer in the Universe?
Jesus never killed anybody and Jesus is the perfect expression of His Father
which is clearly transcribed into the law which says thou shalt not kill. Be ye
Holy because I am Holy. Be free from violence because I am free from
violence. When Isaiah spoke of Christ, He said:

Isa 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in
his mouth.

Christ has done no violence. Christ is the perfect reflection of His Father.
Therefore the Father has done no violence. He is innocent of the charges laid
against him by millions of Christians.

Rom 3:3-6 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make
the faith of God without effect? (4) God forbid: yea, let God be true,
but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in
thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. (5) But if
our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we
say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) (6)
God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

How does God take vengeance?

Rom 12:19-21 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give
place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith
the Lord. (20) Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst,
give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
(21) Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s vengeance is not our vengeance.
This is how the character of God operates. Read carefully every part for it is a
complete revelation of the Father.

Exo 34:6-7 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The
LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, (7) Keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means
clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and

20
 upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Psa 107:1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy
endureth for ever.

God is ever merciful and freedom-loving, and therefore He allows men to

receive the consequences of their own actions. He visits their own iniquities
upon their heads. As a man sows, so shall he also reap.

The Great Lie That Caused Fear of Death

Satan changed the meaning of the first instructions given to Adam by God.
God told Adam that if he chose to decide for himself what is good and evil
that this would cause his own destruction. When Adam ate the fruit, Satan
told Adam that God would seek to kill him. God’s words were changed from a
message of mercy into a coercion gospel.

Gen 3:9-10 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him,
Where art thou? (10) And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and
I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Satan painted God as one that used manipulation and force to keep Adam in
line through fear of death. It was a masterful stroke for when Adam believed
the lie of the serpent then the new god that Adam worshiped was a
manipulator that used fear of death to keep him in line. Adam feared God as
a killer and this placed him in bondage. It is this bondage from which Christ
came to set us free:

Heb 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (15)
And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage.

Luke 1:71-74 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the
hand of all that hate us; (72) To perform the mercy promised to our
fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; (73) The oath which he
sware to our father Abraham, (74) That he would grant unto us, that
we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him
without fear…

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How are we delivered out of the hands of our enemies?

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:
because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Again, what is the fear which keeps us all in bondage?

Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage.

Where did this fear originate?

Gen 3:9-10 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him,
Where art thou? (10) And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden,
and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

What was Adam afraid of? Let Adam’s descendants answer.

Exo 17:3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people
murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast
brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle
with thirst?

Num 14:2-3 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and
against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God
that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this
wilderness! (3) And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this
land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a
prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

Num 21:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses,
Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the
wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our
soul loatheth this light bread.

What caused the Israelites to die in the wilderness? It was their own belief
that God wanted to kill them. Where did this belief come from? It came from
Satan who gave it to Adam and Eve. It is the most wicked, evil lie against our
loving, gentle and merciful Father. It keeps the human race enslaved to
bondage because it creates fear and fear, breeds rebellion which leads to sin
which leads to death.

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Christ Has Abolished Death
This is why Jesus requested the Father that He could come to this world and
show us the process of death. Christ would reveal the serpent hiding in the
shadows accusing God of being a killer and a murderer and covering up his
own wicked deeds.

How does the death of Christ reveal that God is not a killer?

• It was not God who stirred up the Pharisees to seek the death of
Christ; it was Satan.
• It was not God who caused the disciples to slumber and sleep; it was
Satan.
• It was not God who moved Judas to betray Christ; it was Satan.
• It was not God who caused the disciples to flee; it was Satan.
• It was not God who inspired the Pharisees to seek the crucifixion of
Christ; it was Satan.
• It was not God who manipulated Pilate through the crowd; it was
Satan.
• It was not God who inspired men to beat Christ, spit on Him and pull
out His beard; it was Satan.
• It was not God who inspired the Roman soldiers to crucify Christ; it
was Satan.

Even at this point God could have delivered His Son from all that Satan was
doing. Yet Christ told us:

John 10:17-18 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down
my life, that I might take it again. (18) No man taketh it from me, but I
lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

The Father would never have let His precious Son die without the appeal
from Christ to His Father to let Him reveal to the Universe what causes death.
The death of the cross reveals that sin causes death; God does not cause it.

The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not
present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him

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 of the Father's acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so
offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt
the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer
plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the
Father's wrath upon Him as man's substitute, that made the cup He
drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God. DA 753.2

Sin caused the separation between God and His Son. The wrath of God was
His turning away. The wrath of God is His strange act of turning from the
sinner and leaving him to his own decision.

Isa 28:21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be
wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange
[turn aside] work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

Eze 7:22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute
my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

Deu_31:17, 18 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that

day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and
they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so
that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because
our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day
for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned
unto other gods.

Psa 27:9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in
anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God
of my salvation.

Mic 3:4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them:
he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved
themselves ill in their doings.

Please read the booklet God’s Strange Act for an expanded view of the
Biblical view of God’s wrath.

When our sins of rejecting God were upon Christ, they caused God to turn His
face away. When He turned away His face, then Christ cried out:

Matt 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why
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 hast thou forsaken me?

Why did God, as it were, “forsake His Son?” He did this to reveal how He
deals with sin; the sin of rejecting Him. He finally lets man have His desire. He
does not stand towards the sinner as the executioner. God did not send a
physical fire from heaven to consume Christ on the cross. He did not strike
the cross with lightning and smash His Son to pieces. He did not crush Him to
the ground with His fists. He walked away because of the human will to reject
God and the want of nothing to do with Him.

Isa 53:3-5 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and

acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not. (4) Surely he hath borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Christ was carrying this human will upon Him. He was wounded for our
transgression of rejecting the truth. In order to reveal the true nature of
death, God had to honour this rejection and turn away. Christ had to get
permission from His Father to show that sin causes death, not God.

When Christ cried in trumpet tones “It is finished,” and then committed His
Spirit to His Father and died, death was revealed. The serpent was revealed
as the destroyer. Satan and his angels were exposed before the universe, and
the questions that had remained in the minds of the good angels and
unfallen worlds ceased. Satan fell as lightning from heaven to the earth.

Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from
heaven.

2 Tim 1:9-10 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (10) But is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel:

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From the foundation of the world God and His Son decided to reveal the
nature of death and its relationship to sin. When Christ died on the cross, the
cause of death was revealed and therefore its power was abolished.

Rom 16:25-26 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to

my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the
revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world
began, (26) But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the
prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made
known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

John 12:32-33 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
unto me. (33) This he said, signifying what death he should die.

This means that through death Christ abolished the idea that God causes
death. The power of death is Satan’s lie that God kills those who resist Him.

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil;

Christ overturned the lie that God’s original caution to Adam was a threat to
kill him. This is why the cross provides freedom from bondage; the bondage
of the fear or power of death. Christ revealed what happens to the sinner
when He died. He revealed that the Father did not kill His Son but rather that
He turned away according to the will of the sinner. Christ carried our human
desire to reject God upon Himself. God honoured that rejection and yielded
up His Son.

In the day of final judgment, every lost soul will understand the
nature of his own rejection of truth. The cross will be presented, and
its real bearing will be seen by every mind that has been blinded by
transgression. Before the vision of Calvary with its mysterious Victim,
sinners will stand condemned. Every lying excuse will be swept away.
Human apostasy will appear in its heinous character. Men will see what
their choice has been. Every question of truth and error in the long-
standing controversy will then have been made plain. DA 58

The cross brings life and immortality to light through the gospel. It reveals

26
that God is not the author of death and that Satan is a liar and murderer from
the beginning.

So if Christ has already abolished the power of death then why will people
die? Because they continue to believe the lie that God kills them for their
sins. By beholding this lie they are changed into its image. This also makes
them vulnerable to the idea that every offer of mercy from God is actually a
means of manipulation because if they do not accept the offer He will kill
them.

Let us look upon the cross and see that Christ has abolished death for every
man, woman, and child. He has exposed the serpent on the pole. He has
shown the Father truly is love and in Him is no darkness at all. Then we are
ready to understand the meaning of Christ when He said:

Matt 9:24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but
sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

Satan continues to hide himself in the destructive events that occur in the
world. He causes men to believe God is responsible for the very things he
himself is doing. When it is believed that God is actively destroying people
then fear is created and this keeps the soul in bondage. Until the gospel is
preached without any threat of death coming directly from God, it must
always be understood as an extortion racket. Fear of death will never allow
the human soul to rest completely in the hands of God. In this context the cry
of mercy can only be understood as a veiled threat of destruction.

A Revelation of the Father’s Love

The Bible clearly reveals that we are not saved by works. The story of the
prodigal son shows that the father accepted him, not because he was good
but because he was his son. The message of the book Identity Wars reveals
that we are valuable to God not because we perform as He wishes but rather
because we are His children. What we do can never change His love for us.

Matt 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.

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 Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved.

And the word that was spoken to Jesus at the Jordan, "This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," embraces humanity. God
spoke to Jesus as our representative. With all our sins and weaknesses,
we are not cast aside as worthless. "He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved." Ephesians 1:6. The glory that rested upon Christ is a pledge
of the love of God for us. DA 113

If we truly believe that we are accepted in the Beloved not because we are
righteous but because He is love, then we must believe that we will always
have value in God’s eyes.

The logical progression of the Identity message of value through relationship

to our Father is that nothing can cause us to lose worth in His eyes, and
therefore He will never throw away something that is valuable to Him. The
notion that God Himself destroys the wicked with His own hand sends the
message that the wicked are no longer valuable to Him. When we read these
accounts and come to such a conclusion then we are believing in a God Who
can completely devalue humans because they won’t do what He asks. The
death of the wicked becomes a grand statement that sinners mean nothing
to God.

How many of us are willing to throw away someone that is valuable to us?
Even as human beings, if we still see value in someone we would never throw
them away. If we would not do this then how can God throw away any of His
children? He can never do this. He can only grant those who reject Him the
right to die. He can only allow them the freedom to choose death instead of
Him.

Prov 8:36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all
they that hate me love death.

Christ has abolished death. He did it from the foundation of the world, but it
was not fully manifested until the time of the cross. The stories of the plagues
in Egypt, the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah and others speak to the cross, but
it was not fully revealed. Since the revelation of the cross, there is no excuse

28
for believing that God is the author of death. There is no place for accepting
the bondage and fear of God killing those who reject Him. The only way a
person can defeat the abolishing of death is to continue to believe that God
will kill those who don’t act as He wants them to. They continue to believe
that God uses coercion to change human behaviour.

The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God's government;

He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it
cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened. To
know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast
to the character of Satan. This work only one Being in all the universe
could do. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God
could make it known. Upon the world's dark night the Sun of
Righteousness must rise, "with healing in His wings." Malachi 4:2. DA
22.1

The healing in the wings of Christ is that He abolished death. He abolished

the idea that God kills His enemies with His own hand. The lie that God kills
His enemies is what gave Satan wings to build his kingdom of bondage
through fear. When Christ died and revealed how death occurs, Satan’s wings
were clipped, and he fell to the earth. Those who look to Christ will arise with
Him on His healing wings and will ride upon the high places of the earth.
When God made the serpent to go upon his belly and eat the dust of the
earth, He prophesied the destruction of Satan’s kingdom by exposing his lie
that God manipulates and coerces men through fear of death.

Calvary Revealed Through the Flood.

As the Lord surveyed the wickedness of the world He indicated there would
be a limit.

Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with
man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and
twenty years.

The limit was the amount of time that the Spirit of God would strive with
man to save him. The Spirit of Christ was pleading day and night with His
wayward children. He appealed to them and reached out to them day after

29
day. Yet we read how they reacted to this striving of the Spirit.

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [hold down or
suppress] the truth in unrighteousness;

The antediluvians were drowning out the voice of conscience. Daily they
rejected that gentle, appealing voice, and they continued headlong into their
wicked course. This suppression of the Spirit of Christ was like holding Him
down in an effort to drown Him. As His Spirit was vexed from day to day,
Christ often felt overwhelmed.

Isa 63:10 But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was
turned [overturned, given over] to be their enemy, and he fought
[strove] against them.

As men drew nearer to destruction the pleading of Christ became more

urgent and His voice became the sound of the enemy. His witness against
them was treated with scorn and hatred.

Psa 6:3-8 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?
(4) Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies'
sake. (5) For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave
who shall give thee thanks? (6) I am weary with my groaning; all the
night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. (7)
Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all
mine enemies. (8) Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the
LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.

The sufferings of Christ could not be hidden. If men would refuse to accept
the cross of Christ then the inanimate rocks would cry out to bear witness to
the sufferings of their Creator. As Christ is the Creator of this world so the
physical world responds to His suffering.

Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now.

With amazement angels witnessed the Saviour's despairing agony. The

hosts of heaven veiled their faces from the fearful sight. Inanimate
nature expressed sympathy with its insulted and dying Author. The

30
 sun refused to look upon the awful scene. Its full, bright rays were
illuminating the earth at midday, when suddenly it seemed to be blotted
out. Complete darkness, like a funeral pall, enveloped the cross. "There
was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour." There was no
eclipse or other natural cause for this darkness, which was as deep as
midnight without moon or stars. DA 753

Note carefully the response of nature to Christ’s suffering. It is also important

to see that this response of nature was not due to natural causes, it was a
response to the killing of its Creator. We repeat for emphasis:

Inanimate nature expressed sympathy with its insulted and dying

Author…There was no eclipse or other natural cause for this
darkness. DA 753

Psalms 18 reveals the sufferings of Christ on the cross in the context of a

flood.

Psa 18:4-5 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of
ungodly men made me afraid. (5) The sorrows of hell compassed me
about: the snares of death prevented me.

The Spirit of Prophecy tells us that Psalm 18 is a prophecy of the crucifixion.

Christ was "despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and

acquainted with grief." By wicked hands he was taken and
crucified. Speaking of his death, the psalmist writes: "The sorrows of
death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented
me." RH, July 17, 1900 par. 11

Some descriptions in Psalms 18 speak in the language of the flood while

others speak of devouring fire suggesting the events of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the final end of the wicked. As Christ strove with men to turn from
wickedness He was overwhelmed by the flood of their ungodly behaviour :

Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart.

The antediluvians were putting Christ to an open shame. His soul was
tortured and grieved by their wickedness and finally He cried out upon this

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antediluvian cross – I thirst! The Spirit ceased to plead with man. Having been
driven back after hundreds of years, He finally accepted their decision.

Because they rejected the warning, the Spirit of God was withdrawn
from the sinful race, and they perished in the waters of the Flood . GC
431

Inanimate nature could not be prevented from preaching the gospel through
the events of the flood. Notice the connections between the story of the
flood and the cross in these passages:

1. Calling/Crying Out

Psa 18:6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my
God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him,
even into his ears.

Mat 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?

2. The Earth Shakes

Psa 18:7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of
the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. [grieved]

Mat 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from
the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

3. Darkness

Psa 18:9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness
was under his feet. [Thou shalt bruise his heel]

Psa 18:11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round
about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

Matt 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the
land unto the ninth hour.

Darker and darker grew the heavens, and faster came the falling rain.
PP 99

4. Channels of Water and Foundations Revealed

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 Psa 18:15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the
foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at
the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

Water appeared to come from the clouds in mighty cataracts. Rivers

broke away from their boundaries, and overflowed the valleys. Jets of
water burst from the earth with indescribable force, throwing massive
rocks hundreds of feet into the air, and these, in falling, buried
themselves deep in the ground. PP 99.1

Gen 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month,
the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of
the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

5. Roaring

Psa 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou
so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

The terror of man and beast was beyond description. Above the roar of
the tempest was heard the wailing of a people that had despised the
authority of God. PP 99

6. Salvation

Psa 18:16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many
waters.

Gen 8:1-3 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all
the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass
over the earth, and the waters asswaged; (2) The fountains also of the
deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from
heaven was restrained; (3) And the waters returned from off the
earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the
waters were abated.

Nature testified of what had happened to its Creator. As Christ is the light
which lights every man that comes into the world, His suffering was
manifested in the lives of all those who perished in the flood.

Psa 33:6-7 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all
the host of them by the breath of his mouth. (7) He gathereth the
waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in

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 storehouses.

It is through the power of Christ that the heavens were made. His voice
speaks into all creation. It is by the Word of Christ that the waters were
gathered together and laid up in storehouses in the earth. When the
antediluvians finally and completely rejected Christ, His voice was silenced
and the power that held the waters in their storehouses broke loose as the
natural elements were handed over to the principles of chaos.

It was not Satan who caused the release of the waters, but in torturing Christ
to the point of forcing Him to yield up the Spirit, creation no longer heard the
tender voice of its master Who called constantly to them – “Peace be still.”
The waters then reflected the turbulence of Satan and wicked men. Satan
himself was made to endure the warring elements as the enormity of the
cross of Christ was revealed in the waters of the flood. The convulsions of the
deep were a manifestation of the broken heart of Christ. The waters pouring
down from the heavens were testimony of His tears that He had shed for the
fallen children of Adam. The antediluvians refused to acknowledge the
sufferings of Christ, but nature testified to the sufferings of its Author and
reflected His sorrow and death. Satan had caused this destruction by pressing
the antediluvians to reject Christ and His Spirit. When that rejection was
complete, then nature bore witness to that rejection while at the same time
reflecting the impress of the spirit of chaos.

We Esteemed His Stricken, Smitten of God

When we see a revelation of the cross in the story of the flood, we can find
deeper meaning to our human attitudes towards judgment.

Isa 53:3-4 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and

acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not. (4) Surely he hath borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted.

Wherever the story of the cross is revealed, in this very place our natural
human hearts esteem that it was the work of God to strike. The Bible clearly

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reveals the cross in the flood and yet we esteem that this destruction was the
punishment of God. The death of Christ was revealed in the death of those
who perished in the flood and our natural response is to say they were
smitten of God and afflicted. This masks the truth of the cross and the real
reason for the destruction

Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.

It is our transgression that caused the cross, it is Satanically inspired human

nature that caused the flood. When we say God caused the flood and killed
all those people, we repeat the sorrowful principle “we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.”

Seeking the Father With All Our Hearts

In probing further we may ask “Didn’t the Son of God kill the antediluvians by
no longer holding up the waters with His voice? His voice had been silenced
and He accepted their verdict. If you shoot the man who holds his finger in
the dyke, and the water is then free to pour through the wall, who is it that
brought the flood? He had warned them, built an ark, pleaded with them and
warned them that creation was going to reflect His sufferings. At the same
time as Christ bore the sins of the world upon the cross so nature would bear
the sinful chaotic mind of man in its state of disorder. The body of Christ
upon the cross was completely disordered through violence and at the time
of the flood nature also groaned under this burden of disorder and chaos.

How often have its [Spirit of Christ’s] plaintive, tender tones called
them to repentance. How often has it been heard in the touching
entreaties of a friend, a brother, a Redeemer. To the rejecters of His
grace no other could be so full of condemnation, so burdened with
denunciation, as that voice which has so long pleaded: "Turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" Ezekiel 33:11. Oh, that it
were to them the voice of a stranger! Says Jesus: "I have called, and ye
refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye
have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof."
Proverbs 1:24, 25. That voice awakens memories which they would fain

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 blot out--warnings despised, invitations refused, privileges slighted. GC
642

The antediluvian cross of Christ pulls back the mysterious curtain that seems
to present God as a killer. The principles of His kingdom of love, His refusal to
use force, and the law providing a transcript of His character that states
clearly that we should not kill all witness to us that God is not a killer. Only in
the light of the cross of Christ can the story of Noah’s flood find resolution. In
the light of the cross the charge that God is a severe task master is proven
false.

All the blessings of this life and of the life to come are delivered to us
stamped with the cross of Calvary. Therefore the charge that God is a
hard master, reaping where He has not sown, is false. COL 362.3

As Christ desperately tried to warn the Jewish nation of the flood of Romans
that would overwhelm their city and destroy it, so He tried to warn the men
of Noah’s day that a flood of sorrow was coming upon the world. A flood
created by the continual suppression and rejection of Christ that caused the
removal of His Spirit which then allowed the collapse of the water stores of
the earth. As for the case in Jerusalem, the Spirit of Christ was seeking to hold
back Rome from doing its work of destruction under the inspiration of Satan.
When the Jews used Rome to seek to destroy Christ, they sealed their doom.

At the end of this world, those who crucified Christ will realise that their own
decisions will fall upon themselves:

With awful distinctness do priests and rulers recall the events of

Calvary. With shuddering horror they remember how, wagging their
heads in satanic exultation, they exclaimed: "He saved others; Himself
He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down
from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him
deliver Him now, if He will have Him." Matthew 27:42, 43.

Vividly they recall the Saviour's parable of the husbandmen who

refused to render to their lord the fruit of the vineyard, who abused his
servants and slew his son. They remember, too, the sentence which they
themselves pronounced: The lord of the vineyard "will miserably
destroy those wicked men." In the sin and punishment of those

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 unfaithful men the priests and elders see their own course and their
own just doom. And now there rises a cry of mortal agony. Louder than
the shout, "Crucify Him, crucify Him," which rang through the streets
of Jerusalem, swells the awful, [644] despairing wail, "He is the Son of
God! He is the true Messiah!" GC 643,644

As the Jews used the Romans to hang Christ on the cross, the Romans
returned a generation later and hung tens of thousands of its citizens on
crosses after the same order. So also the inhabitants of Noah’s day had
drowned out the pleading Spirit of Christ, these same people revealed
physically in their own lives what they were doing to Him in the Spiritually.

Psa 7:14-16 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived

mischief, and brought forth falsehood. (15) He made a pit, and
digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. (16) His
mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing
shall come down upon his own pate.

For over 1500 years the antediluvian church had laboured and travailed to
respond to the seed that Christ planted in her. The continual rejection of that
seed finally caused a miscarriage. When the woman’s waters finally broke,
she manifested the corpse of Christ in the very lives of those who had
rejected that seed. When a mother miscarries, do we charge her with
murdering her child? Certainly not! It surely is a sorrowful event yet it is the
testimony of nature that something was not right in the birth process. The
miscarriage reveals that a rejection took place for some reason. The church
of Noah endured a terrible miscarriage of the seed of Christ.

Isa_13:8,9 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take
hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they
shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold,
the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to
lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Isa 21:3-4 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken
hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed
down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it. (4) My
heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he
turned into fear unto me.

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If a person has read to this point and is still convinced that God simply
decided that He had had enough of sinners and decided to drown them for
refusing to comply with His rule of law, then such persons run the risk of
seriously misrepresenting the character of God and attributing to Him modes
of operation that run completely counter to His law. They also will find it
impossible to escape the bondage of the fear of death and find true agape
love.

The only path to freedom from bondage is to lose the fear of death. Christ
has abolished death and brought life and immortality to life through the
gospel. Now is the time to seek for our Father with all our hearts and throw
off several thousand years of damning propaganda against our beloved
Father who is ever merciful, tender, gentle, longsuffering and gives to every
man the fruit of His own choices. I appeal to you to see the cross of Christ in
every major destruction event recorded in history. It may very well be that
the millions who died in the Second World War reflected the crucifixion of
Christ that took place in 1888 when the Adventist pioneers pushed back the
truth with determined force and consequently let the world sink down into
the darkness of war.

May we consider well the message coming to us at the present hour. Its
rejection could trigger the world’s final rejection, and once again a flood of
ungodly men will overwhelm the world as a reflection of the grief of Christ at
His rejection.

For those who have ears to hear, listen to what the Spirit says unto the
Church.

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 Other books in this series – Available at maranathamedia.com

Calvary in Egypt

Ponder it carefully. The minds of the Roman soldiers are

controlled by Satan, yet the breath by which they live is the
life that lights every man that comes into the world. The
power of Christ in the souls of men is used by Satan to nail
Him to the cross. Just stop and ponder that for a moment.
The single image of a Roman solider with hammer held
high and driving a spike into those precious hands of the
Saviour holds the key to plagues of Egypt and all the power
of destruction manifested on the earth.

Gods of Egypt as Lightning from Heaven

The Bible contains several instances of sentencing people
to be stoned to death for their transgressions. Where did
this practice come from? Did God introduce this idea to
Moses or did it come from some other source. Is it possible
that the judgments that fell upon Israel related to their
ideas of judgment rather than from God Himself? Did the
sin of the golden calf change anything in the relationship
between God and Israel? Is it important to know? To him
that hath ears let him hear.

Serpent Revealed in Canaan Conquest

How do we reconcile the wholesale slaughter of nations by
Israel with the sword against the words of Christ?
…for all they that take the sword shall perish with the
sword.
Not only men, women and children also:
Deut 2:34 And we took all his cities at that time, and
utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little
ones, of every city, we left none to remain:

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 Christ’s Antediluvian Cross

Paul said that I am determined to know nothing among you save Christ and
Him Crucified. The Cross of Christ is revealed in all the major events of
destruction recorded in Scripture. In all the affliction of His Children Christ is
afflicted.

In the beginning the seed of Christ which is His Word was given to the woman
which is His church. Through all the time before the flood, the woman
laboured and travailed to manifest Christ in them the hope of glory. Yet they
vexed His Holy Spirit and suppressed the truth. They drowned out His voice
and caused Him terrible grief.

In the language of the Psalms, Christ speaks of His antediluvian cross in the
following manner:

Psa 18:11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round
about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

Psalm 18:15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the
foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at
the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

Our Father in heaven does not use the threat of death to coerce us into
obedience. His law is a transcript of His character, and His law says thou shalt
not kill. In the death of the Cross, Christ has abolished the lie that God
threatens to kill the rebellious. The Cross reveals that God leaves those who
reject Him to their own choices. As Jerusalem used the Romans to hang
Christ on the cross and were then hung on crosses by the Romans forty years
later, so the antediluvians had drowned out the Spirit of Christ, and they
drowned according to their own actions.

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